Opposite
by HecateA
Summary: Exposing the flawed nature of the thinking behind the Hunters of Artemis. Oneshot (drabble?). /16


**Believe me, if I could put world hunger on the back of a boy, I would. I just think that we need to hunt together without being to obvious, that's all. Enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own est non-touché pour le trois-quart de l'année. **

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**Opposite**

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Jason leaned his head on a closed fist, slouched over the table.

Thalia reached over and took his hand over the table. "You're okay, Argo. You're really, really brave."

"I don't want to be brave," Jason said. "I want her to be back."

"I know," Thalia said patiently. "But Jason, sometimes these things happen. And they happen to good people. If that last part is true then Reyna was done for since the beginning."

Her brother looked away from her and out the patio window.

"Jason, brother, come on. Look at me." She said. "Look at me."

He did after a second of hesitation and Thalia saw his eyes shimmering with tears that his face didn't betray.

"Oh, Jason." Thalia said. She got up and sat down next to him. He was eighteen now, two full years older what she'd ever be. He was taller and bigger and stronger than she was, but she was still his big sister and don't-any-of-you-forget-it. She was still the one who comforted him and who was allowed to see him cry. "You're okay. I swear, Jason, you're okay. It's… I don't know, but you're okay."

It was so much odder to comfort a boy who'd lost his girl, than a girl who'd lost his boy. Or maybe it was just the fact that Jason was her little brother and Reyna

"She made me swear," he said between sobs, "when we were sixteen… That I wouldn't be… like what Circe said guys were like…"

"You're not," Thalia said.

"I let her down… She died… and I wasn't there on the battlefield… right next to her. I'm a letdown. I'm exactly what she was always… always afraid I was." He said, choking on his own words.

"No," Thalia said. "You were in New Rome, and she was in Seattle. You weren't tied to each other at the hip. It was just how the odds were. Stop defenestrating yourself. Fatal flaw, Jason, don't let it get to you." Taking the world on his shoulders -including all the problems and bugs, malfunctions and glitches- was her brother's flaw. She'd never seen him beat himself up like this, though. Maybe that had always been Reyna's job in his life- making sure he didn't.

"Gods of Olympus, she died." Jason said. Tears openly streaked his face now. Thalia wasn't sure what to do- this was the ex-praetor of Rome. He was strong and mighty, and Jason as a whole had barely cried before. It felt odd for her.

She got up to sit next to her brother.

"She loved you," Thalia said.

"I know," Jason said. "That doesn't help."

"I'm sorry," Thalia said.

"That doesn't help either."

"No, I mean, I'm sorry I can't help you."

_I've never had to _console _a boy before. I can't exactly kiss your finger all better, so there goes that piece of expertise. I can't just tell you that your father is a jerk who left your mother for no reason and that you had the right to run away from them all. I can't tell you you're the best satyr in the world. That's all I've got. Zeus almighty, what _do _you tell a heartbroken boy? _

Thalia didn't know. She could take a new huntress in her arms and tap her back and whisper the right things about pigs and their main role as heartbreakers in society and generally boo the patriarchy. Thalia was good at that.

What now? She was used to it being the other way around. She was used to having boys break the hearts of girls. She'd never thought of the opposite- though she knew she should've. She didn't know how to fix those hearts.

But looking at Jason she knew it'd happened. A girl broke her brother's heart, and that girl hadn't meant to. She'd just died.

Had boys not meant to either? Had she broken Luke's heart on that fight on Mount Othrys, when she hadn't pulled back and had engaged combat with him herself? When she'd proclaimed herself a hero of Olympus instead of the soldier of Kronos? Had she had that power all along? Had the other huntresses?

She put an arm around Jason and squeezed.

"I'm here," she said.

"That helps. A little." Jason said. She knew he didn't mean it; he just didn't want to let her think that he didn't appreciate how hard it was for her to visit him, especially on such short notice.

To comfort a man hurt by a woman.


End file.
